Month: March 2020

2:57 PM GMT The Lions and Dolphins have been crowned champions of South Africa’s first-class and the one-day competition respectively after both events were suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The two franchises each finished at the top of the points’ tables of the respective competition and acting director of cricket, Graeme Smith,

8:50 AM GMT Welcome to #RetroLive, ESPNcricinfo’s answer to the ongoing global sporting outage. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be dredging through the archives to relive classic matches via our unrivalled ball-by-ball commentary. And when better to start than this coming Wednesday, March 25, the anniversary of the England v Pakistan 1992

8:46 AM GMT A postponement in moving Cricket Australia’s headquarters and a drastic cut down in travel may be among the measures the governing body will make to save cash in the time of coronavirus, while any decisions to reduce staff or salaries will be delayed as CA attempts to “absorb” the global pandemic within

3:17 PM GMT Beuran Hendricks, the left-arm seamer who made his Test and ODI debuts for South Africa in the past season, is the only new name on the national men’s contracted player list for the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, pacer Nadine de Klerk, who was part of South Africa’s squad at the T20 World Cup

4:31 PM GMT In normal circumstances, Harry Gurney would have spent Monday morning finishing his packing and saying goodbyes to his family ahead of his flight to the IPL, but normal left the building some time ago. Instead, he found himself re-opening one of his pubs – co-owned with Stuart Broad since 2016 – under

8:10 AM GMT “We just need to make sure we’ve got soul in this group.” It was Ellyse Perry who delivered this critical message to the Australia Women’s team when they stood on the brink of elimination from the T20 World Cup they would go on gloriously to win, the national team coach, Matthew Mott,

2:39 PM GMT In a strongly worded reprimand to Mohammad Hafeez, the PCB chief executive officer Wasim Khan said the batsman should be “focusing on his own cricket” instead of giving opinions on “right and wrong” after Hafeez questioned the return of Sharjeel Khan to competitive cricket. Sharjeel had received a five-year ban from the

4:48 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Baroda has indefinitely suspended Atul Bedade, the head coach of the state’s women’s team, pending an inquiry into allegations including those of sexual harassment. A letter from the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) to Bedade, which has been viewed by ESPNcricinfo, didn’t list specific allegations against him, but noted their nature:

3:35 PM GMT The PCB is set to incur an estimated loss of PKR 200 million (USD 1.2 million approx) in term of gate revenues alone following the postponement of the PSL’s semi-finals and final, and a loss of a further USD 3 to 4 million from not staging the remainder of Pakistan’s home series

11:23 AM GMT David Warner has withdrawn his name from the inaugural edition of the Hundred citing “family and personal reasons”, ESPNcricinfo understands. The tournament is also set to clash in part with Australia’s three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, which is included in the ODI League that will serve as a qualification pathway to the

5:14 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Canterbury and New Zealand bowling allrounder Andrew Ellis has retired after to end a career he had started in 2002-03. Ellis played 15 ODIs and five T20Is in 2012 and 2013. Ellis is only the second player in New Zealand domestic history to have played over 100 games in each

5:21 PM GMT England’s home series against West Indies could be rescheduled until September or even played in the Caribbean due to the COVID-19 crisis. At present the sides are scheduled to play three Tests in England with the first due to start at The Kia Oval on June 4. But with it now all

Find out more at ecb.co.uk The West Indian T20 specialists showed the Durham crowd why they are world champions, with a classy performance. An explosive opening stand of 77 from just 6.3 overs from Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, set the game up for the Windies. And despite Hales’ 43 from 17 balls, their bowlers

9:43 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Despite the concerns around COVID-19 (novel coronavirus), the initial plan was to play out the short three-ODI series between India and South Africa, the second and third games behind closed doors. But after the first ODI in Dharamsala was washed out, the remaining games were cancelled for the time being.

3:09 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Indian umpires Janani Narayanan and Vrinda Rathi were inducted into the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires on Tuesday, taking the count of women match officials across different ICC panels up to 12. Narayanan, 34, and Rathi, 31, who hail from Chennai and Mumbai respectively, have officiated in domestic matches

1:55 PM GMT County chief executives met with the ECB via videocall on Tuesday to discuss various contingency plans for the upcoming summer, and will reconvene on Thursday to run through information and start to make decisions about inevitable postponements and cancellations due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic which is certain to have a

2:04 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Somerset have announced that Matthew Wade will not be joining the club as planned this summer due to a knee injury, though his involvement in the county season was in jeopardy regardless due to the ongoing COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic which has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the English

10:01 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Jofra Archer has spoken out against racist abuse and called for action against its perpetrators after posting screenshots of direct messages he had received, on his Instagram story. “I [have] given a lot of thought about reacting to this and I hope that no-one else has to deal with stuff

7:59 AM GMT The Pakistan Super League, which had tweaked the original schedule to shorten it by four days with an eye on the worsening COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) situation, has been postponed. According to a tweet by the official PSL handle, the semi-final games, which were scheduled to be played on Tuesday, and the final,

12:45 PM GMT Alex Hales has confirmed he is self-isolating at home after developing symptoms of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) following his return from the Pakistan Super League. The PSL’s organisers confirmed on Tuesday morning that the competition’s semi-finals and finals had been postponed indefinitely after a player had shown symptoms of the virus. PCB chief

3:20 PM GMT Big Picture When the PSL left the UAE behind as a temporary staging venue, the expectation was that it would also mean leaving behind an era of matches often played with plenty of empty seats. But the Coronavirus outbreak has meant a form of spectator-less deja vu in Lahore for the first

5:36 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Virat Kohli‘s demeanour on the field has pleased and upset people equally, with some welcoming his in-your-face pumped-up aggression, and others calling for a more restrained approach. As far as Madan Lal, the new head of the BCCI’s cricket advisory committee, is concerned, asking Kohli to “mellow down” makes no

3:55 AM GMT Strategic cash reserves and standing agreements to take control of the nation’s biggest sporting venues for next summer’s T20 World Cup will be tightly held by Cricket Australia ahead of an off-season that is set to see winter sports ravaged by efforts to fight the global spread of coronavirus. In announcing that

4:21 PM GMT Big picture This is the sort of marquee game the PSL had been yearning for all these years without fulfilment. The country’s two biggest cities and fiercest rivals face off on Tuesday in a game quite unlike any that has ever happened at the PSL. The Lahore Qalandars, having finally ended the

7:34 AM GMT The Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards have agreed to postpone the upcoming third leg of their series, of one ODI and the second Test in Karachi in early April, in light of growing concerns around the spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) and travel restrictions around the world. The boards will explore windows

8:46 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Sikandar Raza, the Zimbabwe allrounder, has joined Peshawar Zalmi’s squad as a silver category player. He will be available for Zalmi’s PSL semi-final against table-toppers Multan Sultans, which is to be played in Lahore on Tuesday. Raza’s arrival will strengthen a Zalmi squad that has been hit particularly hard by